Latest Health News

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Young people with HIV have much lower rates of viral suppression than adults with the AIDS-causing virus, a new U.S. study finds. Viral suppression means that HIV has been reduced to undetectable levels. Maintaining viral suppression for at least six months prevents the sexual transmission of HIV and helps people with the virus remain healthy. Researchers assessed more than 1,400 patients ages 12 to 24 with HIV who were referred to a nationwide treatment network. Of those, 75% were enrolled in care, with 34% remaining in care and beginning antiretroviral treatment. Twelve percent achieved viral suppression after a median of nearly five months. (Median means half took less time, half took longer.) That rate of viral suppression is much...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors who get the shingles vaccine may gain stroke protection as well, a new study suggests. Shingles is a viral infection tied to heightened risk of stroke. But overall stroke risk dropped 20% among patients under age 80 who got the shingles vaccine. In patients 80 and older, risk was cut by about 10%, said researchers led by Quanhe Yang, a senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This is a win-win for vaccination," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-University of California, Los Angeles Cardiomyopathy Center. "Less shingles, less stroke," said Fonarow, who was not involved in the study. The findings follow a review of Medicare records for more than 1 million patients over age 66. All...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 12, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Americans who grew up in the swath of the South known as the Stroke Belt are more likely to develop thinking declines later in life, even if they moved away as adults, a new study suggests. But people who grew up elsewhere and moved to the Stroke Belt are less likely to succumb to so-called cognitive decline than if they'd lived there all their lives, researchers found. "As other studies are also finding, this study suggests that attention should be paid to starting earlier in life to manage, or better yet prevent, risk factors for cognitive decline, and not wait until you are in your 'golden years,'" said lead researcher Virginia Howard. She's a professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 12, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Depression among stroke survivors peaks during the early months of recovery and persists for a full year, a new study finds. Experts say better screening methods are needed for this population to more effectively prevent and treat depression. "We found that depression is both prevalent and persistent during the first year following a stroke," said lead researcher Liming Dong, a research investigator at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor. She is presenting the preliminary findings next week at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles. The new analysis relied on a standard eight-item questionnaire used to measure symptoms of depression at three, six and...